Chapter Eight
Amegakure, Akatsuki Headquarters; Sada
I groaned softly when I felt my body waking up, my mind being pulled back into the conscious world. My eyes slowly opened and another groan escaped my lips when I felt the stiffness in my muscles, I blinked a few times to clear up my blurring vision. I finally managed to push myself to sitting up in bed and stretched my arms above my head, rubbing at my eyes seconds later. Where was I? This wasn't my room back in Sunagakure, it looked completely different with the black wooden floor, dark red walls with a huge cloud in the middle of the wall…wait…Akatsuki? Now I remembered, I was a member of Akatsuki now and I was with…Deidara! I quickly snapped my head to the right with a smile on my lips, the smile vanished almost as instantly as it had come. He wasn't there, instead, was a note. I took the folded note between my fingers, a small smile coming to my lips when I saw the beautiful clay rose that had been hidden under the paper. I giggled softly to myself, gently picking the rose up and sat it on my bedside table. I turned my attention back to the note after a moment of admiring the rose, slowly unfolding the paper.
Sada,
I deeply apologize for not being here when you wake up, I know this is a stressful situation for you to be here and you aren't comfortable with these surroundings. I would've stayed if I could've love but when a new member is introduced to the organization, the next morning, Konan visits them to give them a tour of the headquarters. I know it wouldn't be the best thing if she found us together, that's why I had to leave. She should be there some time around nine, breakfast is at ten so I'll see you there. I'm sorry Sada, I truly am. I hope this can make you smile when you wake up and hopefully, it will make your day a smidge better. I love you so much sweetheart, I'll see you soon.
Forever Yours,
Deidara
I licked my lips in thought, wrinkling my nose absentmindedly. A tour of the headquarters? I guessed her reason for giving a tour the day after a member joins, was to give them time to rest a little, I found that to be quite considerate of the blue haired woman. I had to give her some respect for being so kind, I guessed that there were a few humane and polite people in this organization but that didn't mean I was going to immediately trust them. I chewed on my lower lip for a moment before putting the note next to the clay rose and forcing myself out of the bed. I walked across my room to the outfit that went under the Akatsuki cloak and stared at it blankly, not wanting to even think about putting the uniform on. I sighed softly and hung my head, my hair falling down both sides of my face. I felt so utterly defeated, I had no choice but to put it on. I wouldn't throw my Onin uniform in the trash, it was precious to me, exactly like my Suna headband. There was no way I would slash through it like some wild and savage beast, I wouldn't betray my village like everyone else in this accursed place.
I felt a smirk come to my lips at the thought and carefully changed out of my night outfit, slowly pulling on the Akatsuki uniform. I looked over my shoulder at my Onin uniform, carefully folded beside my bed on the floor and went to it, putting it in the bottom drawer of my small dresser. No one was messing with this uniform, it was one of the few reminders of my old life I had left and there was no one that would take it away from me. I finally moved myself out of the crouching position on the floor and turned to face the mirror, a frown set itself on my lips. I didn't like the style of the shirt, not in the least, I'd change it right now. I took a kunai out of my weapons pouch and cut at the shirt, making it so the shirt was in an off-shoulders design and the sleeves went halfway down my hands. I nodded to myself at my work and yanked my sandals on my feet, tying my headband around my waist seconds later; I felt a smile come to my lips when I ran my fingers over the Suna symbol. I blinked sadly, forcing myself not to think about anything concerning Sunagakure and looked up into the eyes of my reflection. It was bizarre, now the uniform actually looked good on me…why?
I looked over at my door when I heard a series of light knocks on the wood and crossed the floor, slowly opening the door. I peaked around the small crack, fully opening it when I saw Konan standing there.
"Ohayou Sada-san." she greeted, sounding professional.
"Ohayou Konan-san." I mimicked, she nodded once before her eyes ran over my appearance.
"You've altered your uniform." she stated, I nodded in agreement.
"Is that okay?" I questioned, my voice almost inaudible.
Konan nodded at my question, looking straight at my face after another moment or two of studying my uniform. I felt surprised when I saw the look on her face, she was…smiling? What was going through her head? I blinked curiously, studying her expression before looking straight into her eyes. What I saw in her orange orbs, greatly surprised me. Her eyes held sympathy, concern, worry, and happiness? How could someone feel that way about another, especially when they were actually enemies? Wait…the look on her face…it reminded me of…her…
I was three years old, playing in the garden out back of the large palace my family lived in. I giggled quietly to myself when I looked over my shoulder, my mother was watching me with a smile on her lips. I looked at her waist length white blonde hair, smiling wider when I saw she hadn't ordered a maid to pull it up into one of her fancy hairstyles. My mother always looked so beautiful when she allowed her hair to flow free, especially with her bright green eyes, she was like a picture of perfection in everyone's eyes. I giggled quietly at the look my mother gave me, she'd raised an eyebrow at my staring.
"And what are you giggling about now, huh?" she questioned, I shook my head.
"Nothing Oka-san." I replied, turning my attention to the grass.
The light in the room was fake light, my father had a large number of skilled shinobi and mechanics that put artificial light in certain rooms, I was especially pleased that there was light in the garden. Everything was so beautiful in here, it would've been a shame to keep it hidden in the dark. I looked around at the beauty once more, watching the few servants in the room tending to certain animals in the garden before looking back at my mother. She was deeply immersed in a conversation with one of the servants, I blinked and a frown set itself on my lips. She wasn't paying attention to me, I needed to get her attention back to me but how could I do that?
'Wait…I can show off my shinobi skills like Oni-chan does all the time.'
I nodded once to myself and ran across the grass, attempting to do a perfect cartwheel. I gasped when I didn't succeed, tumbling across the grass and landing straight in the pond.
"SADA-HIME!"
I gasped in surprise, almost giggling when I realized I hadn't landed in a deep part of the pond. My dress was just soaked, my parents wouldn't be too pleased about that since it had taken a good week for the seamstress to complete.
"SAVE HIME-SAMA!"
"SOMEONE, HELP!"
"MOVE!"
I looked away from the water and up into a pair of green eyes, my mother's eyes. Sympathy, concern, worry, and happiness; she'd felt all those emotions over me?
"Sada." she gasped, I smiled slightly.
"Oka-san, gomen." I apologized, she shook her head and I saw tears roll down her cheeks. "Oka-san?"
"Are you alright Sada?" she questioned, I nodded in agreement.
"Hai."
She let out a sigh of relief and bent down, lifting me out of the pond into her arms. She didn't even care that her dress would be soaked, why wouldn't she care, that was her favorite dress after all. She held my body close to hers, stroking my drenched hair. She sniffed and kissed my cheek tenderly.
"Are you sure you're okay dear?" she asked, I nodded once.
She sighed again and snapped her head in some direction, I looked over my shoulder to see all the servants bowing on the ground to her, she didn't seem pleased with them. What was she going to say?
"All of you almost allowed my child to drown, I won't accept this. Guards! Execute them."
"Nande Oka-san? That's not nice." I said softly, she smiled slightly at me and kissed my cheek.
"I won't allow anyone to hurt my baby, I love you Sada." she told me, I smiled a little at her.
"I love you Oka-san."
I blinked away the memory, my eyes still locked with the blue haired woman's. Konan's eyes reminded me of my mother's eyes, she had a motherly look to her. But why would Konan look at me as though I were her child, it made no sense.
"I honestly love it, everyone here is so bland when it comes to their uniforms." she stated, her smile widening by a fraction. "It's not a huge change but it's cute, it suits you."
"Arigato." I said quietly.
"I hope we didn't get off on the wrong foot yesterday." she said, sounding sincere. "I've always wanted another female around here, it gets lonely only having men around. I hope we can get to the point where we consider ourselves friends."
I tilted my head to the side slightly and blinked, more than likely looking like a dumbfounded child in Konan's perspective. She giggled quietly seeing the look on my face and reached out, patting the top of my head hesitantly. I felt the corners of my mouth curl upward into a small smile at the contact and absentmindedly leaned my head into her hand, I could feel the warmth of her touch. I snapped my eyes open and backed away, realizing what I'd done.
"Gomenasai Konan-san, I…" I stopped, nothing coming to mind for an apology.
The expression on her face, I could tell she was shocked by my boldness but her eyes told me that she didn't blame me. She didn't know all that I had been through in my life and she wasn't going to judge me for it, even if I had made a huge mistake by cuddling up to her. I had a feeling Konan would be someone that I could trust but for now, it would be best if I kept my distance from her when it came to my feelings and thoughts. I raised my eyes back to her face, I knew I had a worried expression but I was unable to hide it from her. She smiled slightly, trying to assure me that she wasn't angry and said
"It's alright Sada-san, shall we begin our tour of the headquarters?"
I nodded in agreement and followed her out of my room, shutting the door behind me. I followed her down the metal like hallway, taking in my surroundings. There wasn't anything too special about this building, the walls looked as though they were made of metal, the entire building seemed to be metal except for the bedrooms I was guessing. The floor was a shiny polished wood, it was sleek and shined to perfection, I was slightly impressed by how clean the building was. I scratched my head in thought and looked towards Konan when she said
"This hallway is the bedrooms for all our members. That is my room, if you ever have a question or need something then don't hesitate to come see me. I'm normally in my room when I don't have any duties to attend to."
I nodded, promising her that I would come talk to her if one of those situations came about.
"If you come to my room and I'm not there, I'll be in leader-sama's office." she finished, I nodded again.
"Are you his partner then?" I questioned, she nodded in agreement.
"Hai, we both actually grew up together on Amegakure's streets." she told me, I cocked my head to the side confused like.
"On the streets?" I repeated, she nodded.
"When we were growing up, the Shinobi War was going on. Amegakure was the country stuck in the middle, we were the fighting ground for all the bigger nations. Both Pein and I lost our parents to the war, we became orphans and took care of each other when we were on the streets." she reminisced, I lowered my head sadly.
"Gomenasai, that must've been awful." I whispered, she sighed quietly.
"It's alright Sada-san, it's nothing you need to worry yourself over. The past is the past and there's nothing that can be done to change it. We just have to deal with it and go on living our lives."
I blinked curiously at her words, taking in all of it. I had to admit that Konan was quite the intelligent woman, she was very deep and insightful about everything. It was a sign to me, a sign that I would be able to have someone I could consider a friend in a depressing place such as this. I didn't say anything as we continued down the hallway, after a few more feet we took a left down another hallway and stopped next to a door.
"This is our training room, training isn't required every day but there are some exceptions made when it comes to our younger members." she explained, I wrinkled my nose slightly.
"I don't understand Konan-san." I said quietly.
"You're so young Sada, practically a child." Konan started, I lowered my head at the words.
"I'm not a child, I'm nearly an adult." I mumbled, more to myself than to the blue haired woman.
"Sada-san, I'm not trying to assume that I know how powerful you are when it comes to your jutsu and whatnot. I'm just saying that you aren't as experienced as the rest of our members." Konan said, trying to raise my spirits.
I sighed softly and rubbed my arm self-consciously, I knew I wasn't as experienced but it didn't mean that I hadn't put just as much work into my jutsu than the rest of them. Well…that wasn't really true either. With all of the members being older than myself, they'd had years upon years to put work into developing their jutsu and training themselves. I guess what I was trying to say was that I was just as dedicated to my jutsu as they were to there's, if not more dedicated since I'd had no one of my own village to help me with developing my jutsu. I'd had to learn everything on my own, with Zabuza's help of course. He hadn't been a Kuraigakure shinobi though, he'd had to steal as much information as he could on my village to train me in the arts of darkness style jutsu. Even then, I'd had to learn the jutsu on my own since no one other than a Kuraigakure shinobi could use darkness style techniques.
"What's that room?" I asked curiously, Konan smiled a little.
"Our medical room, we felt it would be best if it was across from our training room. Incase anyone got any serious injuries." she explained, I nodded a little.
That was an extremely smart thing to do, especially if someone was on the brink of death from serious injuries during training. I didn't necessarily think that Pein cared about his members, it was more like he would hate to lose a valuable asset to the Akatsuki organization. I guessed that Pein cared more about keeping the Akatsuki as strong as possible so he wouldn't have to go out and find someone to replace one of their members.
"Shall we continue?" Konan inquired, snapping me out of my thoughts.
I nodded and followed her back down the hallway, going through the un-adventured part of the headquarters.
"This hallway has our laundry room, kitchen, dining room, and living room." she told me, I tilted my head to the side curiously.
"A living room?" I questioned, she nodded in agreement.
"Although we have our differences, we all still socialize with each other." she said. "That's also the reason we have a dining room, to force socialization."
"Force it?" I repeated, she nodded a little.
"If they don't socialize, there's no way they can work together in battle." she explained, I understood easily what she meant by that; it was hard to work with someone in battle if you knew nothing about them. "Pein and I came to that conclusion, so we made sure a dining room and living room was made so they will socialize we each other. We also have a set time for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast is at ten, lunch at two, and dinner is at six. Everyone that's in the headquarters has to attend, everyone also has an assigned day to cook."
"What if they don't go or cook on their day?" I asked, she giggled quietly.
"Then they have to clean the entire headquarters." she said with another giggle, I giggled quietly at the punishment.
"Men don't like cleaning." I commented, she nodded with a small smile on her lips.
"Exactly." she agreed.
We walked a little further down the hallway, Konan pointing out the rooms to me as we walked until we finally made it to the dining room. I bit my lower lip nervously, twiddling my fingers. Konan walked inside the room without a second thought, I followed behind her as silent as a shadow. I stealthfully peaked around Konan, looking at the huge dinning room table. A good number of people were sitting there, eight to be precise and they were all men. I wrinkled my brow, so Konan and I were the only females in the Akatsuki after all. Both Sasori and Deidara were seated at the table, they looked as though they were having a heated discussion about something or another. Sitting on their left was a what looked like a plant but now that I took a closer look, it was a man that had the appearance of a plant. His body was half white, half black and it looked as though a venus flytrap was attached to his back. His eyes were bright yellow, his hair was a dark green color, cut short. From here his teeth looked as though they were sharpened, I couldn't really tell. Sitting next to him was a boy wearing a black jumpsuit and an orange & black swirl mask covering his face with one eye hole. He had raven colored hair, cut short and messy. Sitting across from the Deidara and Sasori was a man with silver colored hair, slicked back. His skin was an ivory color and he had bright violet orbs, he also wasn't wearing a shirt so I could see that he had a necklace of some sort around his neck. Sitting on the shirtless guy's right was a man with a veil covering his hair, a half-mask covering everything below his eyes. His iris of his eyes was magenta, the area around the iris was a bright jade color and he had dark complexioned skin…there were stitches all over his arms as well. I felt my heart stop when I saw who was sitting across from the plant man, Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi.
I narrowed my eyes into a heated glare, Itachi. I was going to murder this man for what he'd put Sasuke through. Because of him, Sasuke had went to Orochimaru for power, betrayed Konohagakure, hurt his friends and comrades, and…abandoned me. This was all Itachi's fault, if he had never done the horrible things he'd done, Sasuke could still be in Konohagakure today with me and the rest of Team 7. It was all because of this man…this murderer and traitor. This man had ruined the lives of so many people, especially my life. I'd lost my best friend to the evil that was Orochimaru, now my other best friend was dead and the only thing I had left in this world was Deidara. Uchiha Itachi was going to die by my hand, if I failed today then I would keep trying everyday from then on until I killed him. I blinked when I felt Konan touch my shoulder and looked back at her, she was smiling gently at me.
"I'll have to leave after I introduce you to everyone, I have a number of duties I have to attend to." she apologized, I nodded a little.
"I'll be fine." I lied, knowing I more than likely wouldn't be fine.
She nodded and we walked over to the table, all conversation stopped and heads turned in our direction. I bit my lip nervously and rubbed my arm, trying to keep myself from blowing up while Konan was in the room. Deidara smiled a little when he saw us, I felt my heart lighten when I saw the sparkle in his eye. Deidara just always managed to make me happy when I was in the worst of moods, I didn't know how he did it but it always happened…even when I didn't want it to.
"Konan, who's the new bitch?" the silver haired guy asked, I felt my eyes narrow at the insult; I had a feeling I wouldn't be getting along with this guy too well.
"If I hear another foul word come out of your mouth, you'll wake up tomorrow without a tongue Hidan." Konan threatened, Hidan made a 'psht' noise and rolled his eyes. "I would like you all to meet our newest member, Sada. Sada, that's Kakuzu and his partner Hidan. Zetsu and his subordinate Tobi. Hoshigaki Kisame and his partner Uchiha Itachi. And you already know Sasori and Deidara."
I nodded a little, glancing up at the men through my bangs. They were all looking me over, like they were trying to size up how experienced I was and how much chakra I had…and if I was capable of being a cold blooded killer.
"I deeply apologize but I have to go now, be gentlemen for once." Konan asked of them, heading out of the room.
I glanced back over my shoulder to see Konan walk out of sight and turned my attention back to the table filled with Akatsuki members, taking in a slow breath. Everyone still had their eyes on me, I guess they thought I would say something about how tough I was or something. I wasn't even going to bother with that, I had my mind set on something else.
"Uchiha." I said, anger was easily recognizable in my voice.
The Uchiha prodigy turned his attention to me and I narrowed my eyes at him, saying maliciously
"I'm going to kill you for what you did to Sasuke."
His eyes narrowed into a fierce glare, he remembered me. Now…there was no backing out of this.
Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry it took so long for me to update the next chapter of Sin. I feel really bad about the whole thing, but this will make you smile. I have internet where I live now so I'll be updating wayyy more often then I used to and hopefully we'll be able to finish Sin before this year's over. Hahahaha...I'm such a nerd. Anyway though, review on the story and let me know what you guys think. I've missed hearing your opinions about my writing and such.
Lots of Love
Eva
